A Seafarer's Decoding of the Irish Symbols

A Seafarer's Decoding of the Irish Symbols

Author: Donald J. McMahon

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2014-12-11

Total Pages: 328

ISBN-13: 9781497395206

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In this seminal archaeoastronomy text, symbologist Donald J. McMahon unveils astounding revelations about the nature of the invaders of Ireland and the scope of seafaring trade in the ancient world. Combining his expertise in symbology with a passion for mathematics and geometry, a fascination with sailing and celestial navigation, and a lifetime of experience working in metal processing and raw material management, McMahon is uniquely qualified to recognize visual and cultural patterns that have remained undiscovered for five thousand years. In painstaking detail, the book centers on the curbstones and mounds of Ireland, examining the questions of what, where, who, why, and how ancient seafarers came and went from the Emerald Isle. It goes further, pursuing Ireland's relationship to the development of the great dynasties of the Nile Valley and their need for metals, particularly gold and copper. McMahon pays tribute to the achievements of ancient peoples who looked to the celestial bodies to chart their world. Replete with figures and diagrams, the book illustrates how the Egyptian ankh, pillar, and staff were actually navigational instruments, how megalithic constructions served as maps, and how the enigmatic Irish symbols contained tightly held trade secrets. This groundbreaking work opens new doors in the worlds of antiquarianism, archaeology, and cultural anthropology.


Sophie's World

Sophie's World

Author: Jostein Gaarder

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Published: 2007-03-20

Total Pages: 735

ISBN-13: 1466804270

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A page-turning novel that is also an exploration of the great philosophical concepts of Western thought, Jostein Gaarder's Sophie's World has fired the imagination of readers all over the world, with more than twenty million copies in print. One day fourteen-year-old Sophie Amundsen comes home from school to find in her mailbox two notes, with one question on each: "Who are you?" and "Where does the world come from?" From that irresistible beginning, Sophie becomes obsessed with questions that take her far beyond what she knows of her Norwegian village. Through those letters, she enrolls in a kind of correspondence course, covering Socrates to Sartre, with a mysterious philosopher, while receiving letters addressed to another girl. Who is Hilde? And why does her mail keep turning up? To unravel this riddle, Sophie must use the philosophy she is learning—but the truth turns out to be far more complicated than she could have imagined.


America B.C.

America B.C.

Author: Barry Fell

Publisher:

Published: 1989

Total Pages: 347

ISBN-13: 9780671679743

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Druids in Vermont? Phoenicians in Iowa? These are just a few of the interesting bits of information contained in this volume of American pre-history. This groundbreaking work shatters many of the myths of America centuries ago.


Signs and Symbols

Signs and Symbols

Author: Adrian Frutiger

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13:

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Discusses the elements of a sign, and looks at pictograms, alphabets, calligraphy, monograms, text type, numerical signs, symbols, and trademarks.


The Galdrabók

The Galdrabók

Author: Stephen E. Flowers

Publisher: Lodestar Books

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 100

ISBN-13: 9781885972439

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This is a new translation and edition of the book of Icelandic magic first published by Samuel Weiser in 1989. The book has been out of print for several years, and this second edition includes a completely revised translation and the explanatory notes have been doubled. The text consists of a substantial topical introduction that covers the history, theory and practice of magic in Iceland in the medieval and early modern periods. This is followed by the translation of the Galdrabók itself with copious explanatory notes. There are also a number of appendices which contain magical material from other Icelandic books of magic as well as spells from other Germanic areas.


Christendom Destroyed

Christendom Destroyed

Author: Mark Greengrass

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2014-07-03

Total Pages: 890

ISBN-13: 0241005965

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Mark Greengrass's gripping, major, original account of Europe in an era of tumultuous change This latest addition to the landmark Penguin History of Europe series is a fascinating study of 16th and 17th century Europe and the fundamental changes which led to the collapse of Christendom and established the geographical and political frameworks of Western Europe as we know it. From peasants to princes, no one was untouched by the spiritual and intellectual upheaval of this era. Martin Luther's challenge to church authority forced Christians to examine their beliefs in ways that shook the foundations of their religion. The subsequent divisions, fed by dynastic rivalries and military changes, fundamentally altered the relations between ruler and ruled. Geographical and scientific discoveries challenged the unity of Christendom as a belief-community. Europe, with all its divisions, emerged instead as a geographical projection. It was reflected in the mirror of America, and refracted by the eclipse of Crusade in ambiguous relationships with the Ottomans and Orthodox Christianity. Chronicling these dramatic changes, Thomas More, Shakespeare, Montaigne and Cervantes created works which continue to resonate with us. Christendom Destroyed is a rich tapestry that fosters a deeper understanding of Europe's identity today.


Decoding Astronomy in Art and Architecture

Decoding Astronomy in Art and Architecture

Author: Marion Dolan

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-09-17

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 3030765113

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For centuries, our ancestors carefully observed the movements of the heavens and wove that astronomical knowledge into their city planning, architecture, mythology, paintings, sculpture, and poetry. This book uncovers the hidden messages and advanced science encoded within these sacred spaces, showing how the rhythmic motions of the night sky played a central role across many different cultures. Our astronomical tour transports readers through time and space, from prehistoric megaliths to Renaissance paintings, Greco-Roman temples to Inca architecture. Along the way, you will investigate unexpected findings at Lascaux, Delphi, Petra, Angkor Wat, Borobudur, and many more archaeological sites both famous and little known. Through these vivid examples, you will come to appreciate the masterful ways that astronomical knowledge was incorporated into each society’s religion and mythology, then translated into their physical surroundings. The latest archaeoastronomical studies and discoveries are recounted through a poetic and nontechnical narrative, revealing how many longstanding beliefs about our ancestors are being overturned. Through this celestial journey, readers of all backgrounds will learn the basics about this exciting field and share in the wonders of cultural astronomy.


Slave Portraiture in the Atlantic World

Slave Portraiture in the Atlantic World

Author: Agnes Lugo-Ortiz

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2013-09-30

Total Pages: 489

ISBN-13: 1107354781

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Slave Portraiture in the Atlantic World is the first book to focus on the individualized portrayal of enslaved people from the time of Europe's full engagement with plantation slavery in the late sixteenth century to its final official abolition in Brazil in 1888. While this period saw the emergence of portraiture as a major field of representation in Western art, 'slave' and 'portraiture' as categories appear to be mutually exclusive. On the one hand, the logic of chattel slavery sought to render the slave's body as an instrument for production, as the site of a non-subject. Portraiture, on the contrary, privileged the face as the primary visual matrix for the representation of a distinct individuality. Essays address this apparent paradox of 'slave portraits' from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives, probing the historical conditions that made the creation of such rare and enigmatic objects possible and exploring their implications for a more complex understanding of power relations under slavery.